After a half-month hiatus, the Jieke Group was on the move again, adjusting their forces and preparing to launch a new massive ground offensive.
The ceasefire primarily allowed the armies of the An Nan Three Countries to move deeper into Siam, as scaring them off from sending reinforcements would have been problematic.
However, before the large-scale ground offensive could begin, Jieke Group's fighters took off first.
Chan Country's Kachuan Airport, the largest military airport in Chan Country, housed over eighty fighters.
Aside from some old third-generation fighters originally owned by the Chan Country Government, there were also dozens of half-third and fourth-generation fighters purchased from Russia and Hua Country.
At the airport, Su Jie stood in front of a Russian combat fighter that had been drastically modified.
The radar inside the aircraft was replaced with a biological radar, and its exterior covered with a thin layer of meat film and wings adorned with glowing feather patterns, making it look bizarre.
This was naturally Su Jie's masterpiece because the research on air dominance puppets at Puppet Hall had not yet yielded results. The research on air combat puppets was more difficult than ground vehicles, and now with Spider Mecha being deployed, the project Su Jie had assigned to Puppet Hall for developing air dominance puppets hadn't made much progress.
Having no choice, Su Jie took matters into his own hands, employing the Insect Transformation Manual and the help of engineers to magically modify modern fighters.
The advantage was that the strength of the modified fighters increased, but the drawback was that their lifespan severely decreased; they were easily scrapped after a few missions.
This mainly was because the fighters were too precise, and Su Jie's enchanting and modifications were simply too blunt; the delicate internal instruments and components could not withstand it, much like equipping a motorcycle with a fighter jet's engine, which would cause the fighter to disintegrate after a few sorties, a particularly painful waste.
This type of modification was too costly, as the fighters were expensive to purchase and costly to modify, all requiring Mid-grade Spirit Stones.
Regular Spirit Stones wouldn't suffice, and the crafts would be scrapped after just a few uses, which was cause for heartache!
Thus, these magically modified fighters were internally referred to as Spiritual Vulture Fighters by the Jieke Group, and because they had just been successfully modified recently, there weren't many of them yet.
The reason for halting ground operations was to wait for these modified fighters, as they needed to establish some degree of air superiority before launching a corps-level ground campaign recklessly, which could easily lead to being bombed by the enemy air force.
"Commander, the first flying squadron is ready and can take off for combat at any time."
A Chan Country air force general reported to Su Jie with utmost respect.
"Deploy them, we need to achieve some degree of air dominance."
Su Jie, with his piercing gaze, issued the combat order.
Soon, 24 magically modified Spiritual Vulture Fighters took to the skies, along with several other fighters that had not been modified.
Not only from this airport, but many military airports within Chan Country also had regular fighters taking off, most flying toward Siam, and a small number toward An Nan, Zhenla, and Lancang, as a welcoming present for their participation in the war.
During the time Su Jie had halted operations, he increased the number of modified Spiritual Vulture Fighters, now having an entire squadron of 24 units.
Because the Spiritual Vulture Fighters were expensive, not just in terms of real money but importantly requiring many Spirit Stones for magical modification, with each operation reducing their durability by 1 point, and a total durability of only three to four points, not even a mining family could sustain such production!
With such an appalling rate of scrapping, the cost-effectiveness just wasn't there, aside from air combat and strikes on high-value targets, regular air raids weren't practical, only usable in key battles.
As fighter jets from Chan Country took off in such large numbers, this extensive air force activity naturally couldn't escape the monitoring of ground radar stations.
Moreover, with Siam and Chan Country being so close, as soon as Chan Country's fighters mobilized, Siam received the news and urgently deployed their fighters for intercept combat.
Chan Country's ground radar stations also captured signals of Siam's approaching fighters, with both sides pretty much laying their cards on the table.
High above at 10,000 meters, a shadow burst out from beneath the sea of clouds, piercing through with great speed.
Wu Boyan, wearing his combat Mecha suit, piloted one of the magically modified Spiritual Vulture Fighters.
Indeed, he was also a Genetic Warrior, specifically enhanced for sensory perception, which allowed him to better utilize the biological radar for tracking enemies.
Today, many parts of the fighter's cockpit were covered with mycelium and meat tumors, with veins connecting into the Mecha suit, linking Wu Boyan to the fighter for a more efficient combat experience. This system, initially used for driving the Spider Main Battle Mecha, was transplanted into the Spiritual Vulture Fighter.
This type of fighter could only be used by the Jieke Group themselves, for even the manufacturers of the fighters would find it hard to maintain and service them, leaving only Jieke Group capable of handling it.
"Alert, alert, fighter signal detected, fighter signal detected, signal coordinates located at..."
Suddenly, the cockpit's display registered activity.
Wu Boyan narrowed his eyes, the veins at the corners throbbing as he ran the biological radar at full power.
Employing sonar, electromagnetic pulses, and infrared radiation, the biological radar held significant advantages in reconnaissance, detecting Siam's enemy aircraft beyond visual range first.
In Wu Boyan's perception, the enemy aircraft showed no signs of course alteration yet, evidently still unaware of his presence.
In modern air combat, the two most crucial factors are radar and stealth.